Mexican Pacific Coast to Vail... (last of our Mexico trip)

These are the last photos of our road-trip through Mexico. From Oaxaca we drove over the mountains to Puerto Angel => Puerto Escondido => Acapulco => Ixtapa => Guadalajara => Monterrey => Ft. Worth => Palo Duro Canyon => Vail Valley. Lots seen on the way back, these are some of the highlights of my favorite sights/moments.

Fishing boat on the shore of Puerto Angel... the "Mar Del Fundo" occurred two days before we arrived which caused massive waves to bring the ocean, and more importantly sand, on to the shore and shut down much of the restaurants, hotels, and other beach areas.

The view from our hotel in Puerto Angel. Notice the arm of the excavator in the bottom center of the photo moving sand from inside the hotel restaurant back into the ocean.

On top of some rocks in Puerto Escondido. The waves were as big there as anywhere I've ever seen.

We went to a turtle sanctuary in Mazunte. The small beach towns were some of our favorite places!

One of our favorite parts of the Oaxaca coast was going through the mangrove swamp at La Ventanilla. We saw crocodiles, iguanas (such as this one), and lots of birds on our boat tour.

Crowne Plaza Hotel in Acapulco

Acapulco was hot and crowded. It is basically the Miami of Mexico.

Our favorite hotel was definitely the Azul Ixtapa Grand Hotel. Amazing food, salt water pools, clean and luxurious rooms and balconies. It felt nice to spoil ourselves for a few nights.

Infinity Pool at the Azul Ixtapa Grand

Sunset in Ixtapa

While snorkeling Lise dropped the GoPro and had a fight with some coral. Fortunately, there was an ER nurse from Montana who just happened to be on that beach that got her cleaned up and sterilized. She was one of the only native-English speakers we met on our trip and in the right place at the right time. The situation definitely could have been worse but makes for good story now.

Loved the architecture and charm of Guadalajara.

This was sort of a bucket list getting to go to a Mexican League soccer game. What made it even better was that it was between Chivas and Atlas in the playoffs for the first time in 40 years, Guadalajara's rival teams.

 Kelly suggested we check on Karne Garibaldi. They took "fast food" to a whole new level! Terrifically seasoned meat, bacon, beans, and guacamole... I could just do a post about the food in Mexico it was all that good everywhere we went, especially in Oaxaca.

  Mountains on our way to Monterrey. North Central Mexico had an Arizona feel to it.

 Texas skies

 Lise's first time to Six Flags or any major amusement park for that matter. She screamed like a 12 year old girl on every ride and it was absolutely hysterical/awesome.

Palo Duro Canyon for our last night.

I know that we will likely never do another lonnnnggg road-trip like this, or at least not until we are old and retired. It truly was one of my favorite trips with my wife. Life is so different having someone to adventure around with. A few weeks after getting back from Mexico we went on an Alaskan cruise with my family. I'll post those photos sometime soon.

Muchas Gracias,

Bryan

Mexico Trip Week 2 ...Oaxaca (Great Pictures!!)

From South Padre Island, TX we set out very early in the morning to cross the border in hopes of making it to Puebla, Mexico before sunset. After being turned around about 100 miles in and sent back to the border to get a temporary car permit that we were unaware of, we decided to spend the night in Tampico on the coast (5 hours short of our target destination). Being behind schedule made the following day's trip an early morning and long drive south along the coast, over the mountains and easily 700 sharp curves, through the high plans, along a near perfect toll road (only to wait for road construction for 45 minutes), over probably 500 speed bumps or 'topes' (no exaggeration), until finally making it to the town of Oaxaca, more specifically Santa Maria del Tule (or just Tule) where Lise's Aunt and Uncle live and own a campground called Overlander Oasis. Oaxaca gave us a feeling of what the REAL Mexico is all about. Great food, good weather, fun culture, and some amazing sights... enjoy the photos below!

 Photo credit to Lise from one of the "suggested routes" Google Maps had for us, needless to say turned around back towards a paved road.

The Menu for "Nievas" or shaved ice/ice cream. We were adventurous and tried the "Tuna" although it is actually the budding flower from a cactus and not a large fish.

Large catholic church in the City of Oaxaca

I realize they don't get snow in Oaxaca but their snowman design still seems a little off. Lise says maybe its like an iceberg and we can't see the part of the snowman under ground.

Evidence of Mexico's infamous fascination of the dead.

Colorful streets of the Oaxaca.

 We visited a friend of Lise's family named Teresa who was building a home in the hills outside the city. Their dog loved me and just kept wanting to hug my leg. I'm thankful that was all he was interested in doing.

 Loved riding in their VW Safari touring around Oaxaca!

 This woman showed us how she made candles by pouring the wax over and over more than 100 times until getting the proper diameter of the candle she wanted.

 We especially enjoyed our time here at a small Artisan shop where they hand wove rugs. That also includes making their own yarn. The die was created from various plants, flower, and even bugs.

 Lise giving the spindle a try... harder than it looks

 Yarn hanging to dry after it was hand washed

Local market we went to where you can buy anything and everything.

Painted skulls at the market for sale.

 

Largest chicharrones I've ever seen

 

 Local Zapotecan woman carrying a turkey she bought at the market

 No trip to the state of Oaxaca is complete without a tour of a local Mezcal factory. Tequila is actually a specific type of Mezcal made from blue agave in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Mezcal, on the otherhand, differs in taste and has many varieties based on the type of agave plant used.

  This large agave plant shows how they let it grow tall before cutting it to use the bottom part to make the Mezcal

 Zapotec ruins we visited

 These ruins are geometrically unique in that the stone is not carved as you can see from the detail of this photo. Instead the markings are actually carefully placed stones that form the desired designs.

We kinda of made a last minute decision to visit Hierve El Agua and are so glad we did. Spanish for "the water boils," the formations resemble frozen waterfalls but are actually made of highly concentrated mineral water. Supposedly, the only other formations of this size like these are in Turkey. Above you see one of the two large pools there people swim in.

 The view wasn't too bad either

We are currently in Puerto Angel on the Pacific coast. The rest of our trip will be some much needed beach relaxing, as well as time in Guadalajara and Monterey before we start our trip back home. More pictures to come in a week or so!

-BP

Mexico Road Trip... Week 1

Mud-season (snow melting and trails staying closed) is not my favorite time in the Vail Valley. Fortunately, Lise's restaurant, Juniper, and the Westin that I work at are both very slow (or closed). This year we decided to drive south to see some National Parks, visit family, and enjoy some warmth. While I haven't updated my blog in quite awhile, I hope to do so soon and document this road trip in the meantime each week. Enjoy the photos (and captions) below!

3 states, 2 countries, and roughly 6,000 miles in 31 days.. This is our route (currently at letter "K" as I write this)

The campsite our first night just outside of Mesa Verde

The Mesa Verde ruins lie about an hour west of Durango in SW Colorado. The park itself is very large and sits on a high desert plateau. The ruins are structures built into cliffs. We really enjoyed our tour of the park and I recommend a 1/2 or full day or so to anyone who is out in that area.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe

Our little Albuquerque tour of Breaking Bad

We opted for the more "official" Roswell UFO Museum rather than "Alien Zone"... I suppose if you have to be in Roswell you might as well stop for the photo right?

Carslbad Caverns might not be one of the 7 natural wonders of the world or even North America, but it might as well be. More than a little off the beaten path but pretty incredible and impossible to photograph. My grandmother first explored the caverns as a Junior in High School in 1947. Here is a photo of Lise in front of a small-medium sized tower.

 Had a great time introducing Lise to Ben and Trisha and spending time with them in West Texas!

Obligatory stop at ACU

Finally made it to Tyler. Nothing better than time with my family.

My favorite museum to this day (Smithsonian included) is the East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore, TX. They also claim to be the #1 attraction in East Texas although my friend Adam seriously doubts it over the Rose Garden in Tyler.

Street scene of cars stuck in the mud in the early 1930's from the Oil Museum of East Texas

 Lise really enjoyed driving on the beach at South Padre Island National Park. It was a little windy but warm and of course still THE BEACHSunset of our final night in Texas

Our second week is already underway and we are having a great time in Oaxaca so far soaking up the culture, architecture, and food.

Thanks as always for looking!
-BP